Preparation of HTML documents & web databases

This page was written by Christopher Spry.

Index

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Web validation software
• 3. Home page publishing
• 4. Clipart and graphics
• 5. WWW database applications
• 6. Webcams
• 7. Microsoft's 'FrontPage 2000', as used by this web and 'Visual InterDev'

1. Introduction

• The 'Bare Bones' guide to writing HTML by Kevin Werbach.
• HTML 4 specification, recently approved and information on how to use it.
• XHTML A reformulation of HTML 4.0 in XML 1.0. XML guide to using it
• Web Development Sites, links to web development resources.
• Elsop Webmaster Resource Center, tutorials,  reference material on HTML, CGIs and scripts.
• CGI Resource Index, Matt's Script Archive, Inc.
• Matt's Script Archive of Perl and CGI scripts.
• Reviews of the many HTML editors for Win 3.* and Windows95, Carl Davis.
• Java Centre, UK.
• 'Hangman' Java applet and links to SUN's 'Java' resources.
• Preparation of Java code for IRIX.
• 'WWW' FAQ by Thomas Boutell.
• 'Perl' FAQ.
• A comprehensive webmastering reference resource Links to articles & URLs..
• 'WebEvent' software to prepare a calendar or schedule of events. It was set up for SunOS 4.1.3 with Perl 4.0, NCSA HTTP 1.3 & CC/GCC.
• WWW Consortium resources, including an HTML validation service
• 'Web Weaver' links to authoring.
• Clocks, counters, countdowns, timers archive.
• Web-Counter Usage Page
• 'Absolute' background textures file archive.
• Leeds HTML repository.
• Guides to preparing & reading HTML documents.
• Web authoring software guide from ZDNET.
• Yahoo! web authoring links
• Country codes in addresses.

2. Web validation software

• 'HTML Tidy' by Dave Raggett. A command line application to check and update HTML to a high standard. This is the tool that I use to check my HTML pages and to correct errors when web authoring software, such as FrontPage 2000 and Word 2000, is used to create HTML documents. There is a graphical user version called TidyGUI.
• 'Webtools' has reviewed online WWW code validator programs and has stated:
• "The World Wide Web Consortium's HTML validation service checks documents for conformance to W3C HTML and XHTML recommendations. To check a single page, you can type a URL or upload the HTML file from your PC.
• The Web Design Group's HTML validator  is one of the few free validators that can check many Web pages at once. Just enter a home page URL and click the "Validate entire site" checkbox, or use the "batch" mode to enter a long list of URLs for simultaneous checking. Batch validation is limited to 60 URLs at one time. In addition, you can upload files from your PC or paste HTML code into a form for validation. The site offers a frank discussion of how this validator differs from others. It is similar in many ways to the W3C HTML Validation Service, but supports a wider variety of character encoding sets and custom DTDs. The open-source program is written in Perl. 
• NetMechanic's HTML Toolbox, which is part of a collection of tools for improving and promoting websites, is one of the more robust validation tools. The HTML Toolbox function will check code and -- in a unique twist -- offer a repaired version of the page you can upload to your website. Its spellchecker feature allows user-defined custom dictionaries. The free trial will test up to 20 pages at a time. You don't even have to wait around while it works: the program sends an e-mail message when testing is complete. A subscription is required to access the full version, which includes the ability to test 400 pages at once. Pricing ranges from $35 to $200 per site per year, depending on the number of pages in the site.
• 'Dr. Watson' is a popular validator offering many options, including spell-checking, generating word counts, and checking for META tags for search engine compatibility. The tool understands HTML 3.2 standards, Netscape and Microsoft extensions through version 4.x -- you can choose which browser's extensions to allow during verification. You can adjust the level of HTML standards enforcement, and choose whether the program should complain about "style" errors. (The program appears to be built upon Weblint, a subjective syntax and style checker.) Dr. Watson checks a single page at a time. If you would like a second opinion, another doctor is on call. Doctor HTML is another tool that checks a single page at a time. Its output includes analyses of table structure and images, a spelling check, and link verification. The tool will only check pages that are being served on the Web, you can't upload files from your computer. According to the site, "The Doctor is not a strict validation tool using SGML parsing, such as W3C HTML Validation Service. However, this is a feature, not a limitation, since strict SGML parsing often turns up errors that have no bearing on page's performance. In the future, Doctor HTML will warn you when you use browser-specific syntax that might impact the way your page is displayed for certain clients." The "pro" version of Doctor HTML http://www2.imagiware.com/RxHTMLpro/ (which costs $2 per report or less depending on the quantity of reports purchased) will check an entire site in one fell swoop, and can schedule periodic checks for pages that change often.
• 'LinkAlarm' has a sole mission in life is to find dead hyperlinks on your site. It crawls the site, checking every link on every page. You can set it to verify your links just once, or schedule daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly checks. The process can take some time: to avoid overloading your Web server, LinkAlarm normally waits 30 seconds between hits on your site -- this can be adjusted to 10 seconds to build the report more quickly.  A free trial lets you check the links on 100 pages of your site. Past that, you'll have to buy into LinkAlarm's unusual "point system." $10 buys enough points to check 1,000 Web pages. 
• 'HTML Code Cleaner' is a simple but unusual service that strips your HTML to its bare essentials, removing unnecessary whitespace, unneeded meta tags, default values in HTML elements, and other bandwidth-wasters. After you give it a URL, the tool shows a text box with the "compacted" HTML code, which you can copy and paste into your website. The program squeezed the byte count on our test pages 5 percent to 18 percent, which can sharply reduce your users' download time. Too bad this program doesn't do its work on more than one page at a time.
• 'Delorie Software' provides a number of free tools for Web authors. The site's Web Page Purifier shows a Web page, while restricting the HTML to published standards (It offers several options, including HTML 4.0 Transitional, HTML 2.0, and WebTV). Want to know what your site looks like to those users stuck with old, old browsers? The Web Page Backward Compatibility Viewer  shows what your page looks like without support for various features -- you can turn off support for tables, frames, images, Font tags, and other modern features."
• 'Doctor HTML', single page HTML validator service.

• 'Verify' program to check HTML documents' links.

3. Home page publishing

• HTML Converters
• Introduction to HTML - Table of Contents
• Introduction to HTML and URLs

4. Clipart and graphics

• Animated Pages! The MicroMovie MiniMultiplex
• Background GIFs and Animated GIF library.
• Creating Palettes
• Graphics on the Web
• Photoshop tips page
• The Clip Art Connection
• The Pixel Foundry

5. WWW database applications

6. Webcams

• Video cameras on the Internet, DCM.
• Control the direction and magnification of a video camera view at Carleton University, Canada.
• Head mounted video cameras

7. Microsoft's 'FrontPage 2000' (as used by this web) and 'Visual InterDev'

Go to the 'home page'

© cspry@sghms.ac.uk. Department of Biochemistry & Immunology, St. George's Hospital Medical School, London SW17 0RE, UK. Phone +44 20-8725 5819; fax +44 20-8725 5821. This page was last updated on 10 December 2001 11:27:12.